Drunken Donuts Bread Pudding

A lot of you have asked about the bread pudding recipe using donuts that I made, your wish is my command!

I stumbled upon this Donut Bread Pudding recipe by Paula Deen (you know it's bound to be good if Paula makes it)

I made a few tweaks though, below is my version of the recipe:

Drunken Donuts Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can fruit cocktail, with their juice
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 (9-ounce) box raisins
• Pinch salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• About 16 glazed donuts, cut into cubes
• Butter Rum Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first 6 ingredients. Add the donut cubes and toss until they have absorbed as much of the liquid as possible. Pour the mixture into a 13"x9" casserole dish and bake for 1 hour. Serve with Butter Rum Sauce.

Butter Rum Sauce:

• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 (1-pound) box confectioners' sugar
• dark rum, to taste (I used Appleton Special Rum, about 1/4 cup)

In a saucepan, melt the butter and gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar. Add rum and heat until bubbly. Pour over Drunken Donut Bread Pudding

 

Pretzel Hugs

I landed another tailgate hit this past weekend... inspired by Pinterest (yet again) I decided to whip up this recipe, and let me tell you - they got rave reviews!

Source: cookiesandcups.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

Pretty simple to make too! Just get the "Pounder" bag of Snaps pretzels, and a few bags of Hershey's Hugs...

Lay out your parchment paper on cookie sheets, and line your pretzels up.

Then comes the worst part... unwrapping all the Hugs!

Once you tackle that mountain of a task, place one Hug on each pretzel (yes, this is tedious, but they're SO tasty I promise it is worth it!)

Once that's done pop 'em in the oven (one sheet at a time) at 300degrees for about 2 minutes (they will JUST start to get glossy and soft, don't let them melt too much... you'll have a big mess!).

As soon as you pull em out, place a pretzel on top of each one!

The original recipe suggests putting them in the fridge to cool them down quickly, however I didn't have room so I just left them out. I'd say within an hour or so they were cooled!

The hardest part is lining up all the pretzels and unwrapping the chocolates... but once you get past that it's easy breezy! You get all the taste of white chocolate covered pretzels without the hassle of actually having to cover pretzels in white chocolate.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

We have tailgated with the same big group of people for the past like 8 years at every home Colts game... we've all become some sort of fine-tuned machine, full of competitive cornhole, great company and delicious food.

The thing is, when you tailgate together for that long - you go past the 'bag of chips and salsa' tailgating, we actually have a menu for the tailgating season and everyone brings a complimentary side dish / appetizer or dessert if it's not your week to make the main menu item.

Since this Sunday was a 1 o'clock game, we did the traditional biscuits & gravy, with tater tot casserole, bacon, bloody mary's and all sorts of other breakfast goodies, and I brought along some Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries inspired by this recipe. They were a huge hit, and the bitesized desserts proved to be the perfect tailgating sweets.

 Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Ingredients

3 containers of strawberries

1 brick cream cheese, softened

3-4 heaping tablespoons of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 graham cracker square, crushed up

Directions

1. Cut the tops off the strawberries, then using a small paring knife cut a cone shape out of the middle of the strawberries (I used the white part as a guide). Do this with all of the strawberries and set aside.

2. Crush up your graham cracker crumbs into a small bowl and set aside.

3.  In a mixing bowl combine the cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar (to taste), mix until creamy.

4. Scoop cheesecake mixture into a ziploc baggie, and snip the corner off. Pipe the filling into the strawberries, then dip them in the crushed up graham crackers.

5. Refrigerate until you're ready to enjoy them!

I expected these to be sort-of time consuming considering how you have to cut every strawberry but they really didn't take too long. And they were definitely worth it! All of them got eaten up yesterday!

Girlfriend Cookies

I'd like to think I've pretty much perfected my chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I joke that not a week has gone by where I haven't made baked goods since moving into my house back in January, and it's true - aside from a few weeks where my butt was plopped on a beach!

These are my Girlfriend Cookies. You know, the kind of chocolate chip cookies that if any guy eats them he is guaranteed to make some sort of remark about how he wishes you were his girlfriend (or maybe even wife).  They are my most favorite cookies to make. Not only because I know the recipe by heart, but also because they are just so darn tasty!


Girlfriend Cookies


Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.5 ounce) box instant vanilla pudding mix* (This is the magic ingredient that makes your cookies soft & chewy)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars (and then if you're me, proceed to eat about 3 tablespoons full. That's my favorite thing ever!!)

Mix in your box of vanilla pudding, your eggs and your vanilla.

Combine flour & baking soda in a separate bowl. Gently mix that mixture into the sugar/butter concoction.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets & bake 10-12 minutes (I usually pull them out right around 9 because my oven bakes hot)

Let them cool, and then enjoy! I like them best in the morning at breakfast... honest! I usually eat 2 or 3 every morning with my coffee!

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

Back in the spring I was aimlessly strolling through Target (actually, it was the same day my genius tablecloth turned curtain idea struck) and a teal bundt pan hopped into my cart. Honest, I don't know how it happened. I am convinced all things teal are just drawn to me and somehow make sure that I purchase them. It's some crazy intergalactic magnetic force. (hey - bundt pans are metal... work with me!)

Anyways.... said bundt pan sat all cute in my hutch for a few months, then it became a candy dish (super cute one, by the way) for a few months after that... until all the candy got eaten and then it just sat there on the table with a few stray Fun Size Twix's and I decided it was time to actually make it work for it's keep!


And thus the Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake was born.

 (Doesn't it look so yummy on my Fiesta Pizza Tray?!)

Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup white sugar

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Lightly grease one 10 inch bundt pan.
2. Cream 1 1/2 cups white sugar together with eggs until well blended. Add sour cream and butter or margarine and beat well. Add flour, baking soda, and baking powder and mix well. Stir in vanilla and the chopped nuts.
3. Mix the remaining 1/4 cup of white sugar with the cinnamon.
4. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Cover with remaining cake batter.
5. Bake at 400 degrees F for 8 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees F  and bake for an additional 40 minutes.  

I also made a glaze to go over the top once cooled, using 1 cup powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons milk & 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

I will now proceed to consume nearly all of it this week, because, you know... what else would be a better idea when I'll be spending all next week in a bikini!?

  

In the Kitchen: Oreo Cupcakes

I busted out the teal baby a few nights ago to whip up some cupcakes. She didn't get recruited for just any ol' cupcakes though... I had a song in my heart, and that song was singing Oreo Cupcakes!Chris LOVES Oreo's, and he always gets Oreo blizzards when we go to Dairy Queen so I knew he would love these as a slightly late Valentine's gift!

The icing is my favorite... it is soo good! It tastes like an Oreo milkshake... it took every bit of willpower I have not to just say screw the cupcakes and eat it right out of the piping bag!


And for all who are interested, here's the recipe! (Although I can't remember where it came from...whoopsy!)

Oreo Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, at room temperature

For the frosting:
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp. whipping cream
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 tbsp. Oreo cookie crumbs

For garnish:
24 Oreo cookie halves

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the brown sugar and continue beating until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, being careful not to overmix.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

To prepare the frosting, in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the whipping cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until the whipped cream holds stiff peaks. Gently fold in the cookie crumbs with a spatula.

Scoop the mixture into a pastry bag and pipe frosting decoratively on top of the cupcakes. Garnish with Oreo cookie halves.

In the Kitchen : Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday once I finally drug my butt out of bed I was craving some chocolate chip cookies bad! I have been 4 different kinds of frustrated with my good ol' recipe (from the bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips) so I decided to stray and find a new one.

After reading through approximately 27 of the 348 chocolate chip cookies recipes on AllRecipes I settled on one with two boxes of pudding (everybody knows adding pudding to cookies makes them super fluffy and moist - right? If not, now you do!)
They are delicious. Here's the recipe if any of you are looking for an incredibly yummy chocolate chip cookie! (Be warned, this recipe makes a TON of cookies - like well over 100!)

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
(recipe found here)

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional- I left these out)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the two boxes of instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Enjoy!

In The Kitchen: Fruit Pizza

Hey, remember when the new year started and I decided I would make & feature at least one recipe a week... hah told you I don't stick things out very well. (You can check out my meals from week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4 and week 5)

Anyways, I had a few of you ask me about my fruit pizza recipe I referred to in my post Monday. It's a simple recipe that I've been making for years that is always a hit at parties and get togethers!

Fruit Pizza

Ingredients
12" pizza pan
1 pkg. refrigerator sugar cookie dough
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

1/ 3	cup sugar
1/2	teaspoon vanilla

Several fresh or canned fruits of your choice (canned pineapple chunks, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, they all work!)


Directions
Cut the sugar cookie dough into thin slices and press down onto your pizza pan forming a "crust". Bake as directed on the dough package. While this is baking/cooling, you can cut up all your fruits into bite size pieces (you can leave pineapple chunks and berries as they are). Combine cream cheese and powdered sugar in a mixer, then spread onto dough. Add your fruits on top, in whatever pattern is appealing to you!
Cut with a pizza cutter and serve!

Note: my cookie dough usually seems rock hard after I let it cool, no worries - the cream cheese mixture will soften it right up once you spread it on there!

Have you ever made this before? Don't you love it? What are your favorite fruits to use? Yum! I suppose you could make it a little healthier by using Greek yogurt instead of the cream cheese mixture possibly?

In The Kitchen: Week 5: Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Shells

This post should be titled "In The Kitchen: Week 5: FAIL", but that seemed a little harsh. Chrischris and I decided to make Spinach Stuffed Shells out of the good ol' Betty Crocker Cookbook. You can't go wrong with the trusty red & white plaid, can you?! Yes, my friends, yes you can.

Ok, maybe I'm being over dramatic, this wasn't terrible. It just didn't have much flavor. At all. It tasted of noodles, spinach and marinara. It needed a heavy dose of spices. It needed Emeril's BAM! I don't even feel like sharing the recipe. Maybe we will revisit it at a later date and try to kick it up a notch, but until then let's mark this week down as a "nice try kid, maybe next week".

In other news, we watched UP! the other night. It made me cry. I wish I could follow that sentence with a "just kidding" but that would be a lie. I really did cry. Twice actually. When his wife died, and in the end when he was looking at her Adventure book again. Those darn Disney movies get me every time! Don't even ask me about The Fox & The Hound!

Oh my, I need to get back to work. We're swampppppped this week with Superbowl, Lovey Dovey Day and oh yea, those little green men looming on the horizon. This job makes me despise large liquor-drinking holidays. It's quite sad actually.

In The Kitchen: Week 4: Veggie Pizza

I'm sort-of cheating on this one. You see, I technically skipped week 3, so I made the loaded potato soup early on in the week, and then made this later on in the week. (Hey, I made this darned New Year's resolution and I'm stickin to it!!)

This is a favorite for get-together's in my family, so of course I whipped it up for the shower today!

Veggie Pizza
Ingredients
   -2 packages refrigerated Pillsbury crescent rolls
   -2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, softened
   -1 c. mayonnaise 
   -1 pkg. Hidden Valley ranch dressing powder mix
   -1 c. fresh broccoli, chopped
   -1 c. fresh cauliflower, chopped
   -1 c. carrots, shredded or chopped
   -1 c. cherry tomatoes, sliced
   -1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions  
Roll out the crescent rolls onto a baking sheet (I always use a Pampered Chef baking stone, but I'm sure any cookie shoot would work fine!). Pinch all the seams together and form a "crust". Bake according to the directions on the package. Let cool once finished baking(I use this time for veggie chopping).


Mix together, cream cheese, mayonnaise and ranch dressing mix. Spread "sauce" onto crust, and top with veggies and cheese. Cut into squares and serve. See, I told you it was simple!  Feel free to use whatever veggies you like (I've had it with peppers, pea pods, even different cheeses!) 

In The Kitchen: Week 3: Loaded Potato Soup

This should probably be titled something more along the lines of week 3 and a half, since I cooked nothing last week! Oops. Baby steps, people, baby steps!

Last night after work I really just needed some comfort food. With the Colt's making it to the Super Bowl, my job has been hectic. Every bar and restaurant in the state now wants blue-white-alcohol-induced posters and banners! Chrischris & I decided to make an O'Charley's-esque Loaded Potato Soup. Let e rephrase, I decided to, he got dragged into dicing potatoes and frying bacon.

The recipe came from this gem. My mom has this thing chock full of handwritten recipes from great grandmas, aunts, cousins, friends and a fair stash of 'just-printed-off' newbies that are sticking out the side. It's my favorite!

Loaded Potato Soup
Ingredients
   -3 lbs red potatoes
   -1/4 c. margarine, melted
   -1/4 c. flour
   -8 c. half-and-half (the half gallon size carton)
   -32oz. block Velvetta cheese, melted
   -Cracked black pepper, to taste
   -Garlic powder, to taste
   -1/2 pound bacon, fried crisply
   -1/2 c. fresh chives chopped
   -1 pkg shredded cheddar cheese

Directions  
Dice unpeeled red potatoes into 1/2" cubes. Place in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Let the potatoes boil for about 10 minutes (they will be about 3/4 of the way cooked).


In a separate pot (This is the pot all of your soup will be made in), combine melted margarine and flour, mixing til smooth. Place over low heat and gradually add half-and-half, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until smooth and liquid begins to thicken.


Dice Velvetta into 1" cubes and add to half-and-half mixture. Stir well and let the cheese melt down. Drain potatoes and add them to this pot as well. You can now stir in your garlic powder and black pepper.


Cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. 


Serve soup in bowls and top with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese and chives.


This is one of our favorite soup recipes - the best part is that it has the chili factor, and tastes even better the next day!   

In The Kitchen: Week 2, recap

Hello, airhead here. I can't believe I left you all hanging on my In the Kitchen: Week 2 dinner! If you remember it was a yummy Italian bow tie ziti with sausage, tomato and mozzarella. And delicious it was. I've been craving it every day since then! And seriously, quite easy.

The lovely ladies, Michelle & Susan, over at You've Got Super have some fantastic recipes and I can't wait to tackle some more of them!

I wish I had pictures to share - we had a great night with friends, good food and a ridiculous board game called Quelf. We were all in tears from laughing so hard!

I highly recommend the game (we picked ours up at Target for $24ish I believe), and also the recipe too! 

In The Kitchen: Week 2: Bow Tie Ziti with Tomato, Mozzarella and Sausage

I think me following through with something like this (weekly obligations alwasy get the best of me) should be a fulfilled resolution in itself!

This week I'm channeling my inner Giada and taking a stab at an Italian dish. Not that I could even begin to compete with that girl. She's gorgeous AND she cooks, ay could you give the rest of us a chance!

I'm actually not making this until tomorrow night, so I will have to follow up with how it goes. If you notice this post mysteriously disappears between now and then, I probably butchered the recipe, had to order pizzas for our guests and didn't want to face the humility of it!

Ingredients

   -1 lb farfalle bow ties, dry
   -2 tbsp olive oil
   -1 yellow onion, chopped

   -2 cloves garlic, minced (I'm not using fresh garlic in mine)
   -1 lb Italian sausage, thinly sliced
   -35 oz whole tomatoes, peeled (I found Rold Gold tomatoes that had basil, garlic and onions already in them hah cheater, yes I am)
   -1 tbsp oregano
   -1 cup ricotta cheese, low fat
   -1/3 cup basil, chopped (also not using fresh - sorry but lets get realistic here)
   -1/2 lb mozzarella cheese (the recipe called for cubed... we're going with shredded)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook pasta according to package and drain.
2. Heat 2 swirls of olive oil in a large saute pan. Heat over medium - high and cook onion until soft (about 5 min.). Add garlic.
3. Slice sausage into thin circles. Add to saute pan and cook until brown.
4. Add tomatoes with juices (I chop them with a knife right in the can) and let simmer for 10 - 12 minutes. Add oregano.
5. Combine ricotta. 3/4 cup parm, basil, and a little S&P. Add to pasta and mix together (I used my hands). Add tomato and sausage and mix again. Toss in mozzarella. Pour into greased baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining parm.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until bubbling. Serve.

(Recipe modified from You've Got Supper).

We're having 7 or 8 friends over for dinner and games tomorrow night. I sure hope this turns out well! We'll probably just serve it with Caesar salad and garlic bread (we LOVE Cugino's spread, it's so good but soo not good for you!).

Wish me luck!

In The Kitchen: Week 1: Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to become a better cook, or maybe you could call it "learning to cook" but I took every Home Ec class offered in high school! I know all of the basics, and I enjoy cooking, I just never had to do it much. So with the new year I decided I was going to cook one meal a week (I might even get ambitious and do more, we'll see!)

I'm not trying to get all Julie & Julia on you, I just thought it would be fun to share what I tackle and of course I'm always open to helpful hints and new recipes!

Last night I made Chicken Pot Pie Casserole. It took about 20min to cook the chicken breast and prepare the ingredients, and had to bake in the over for roughly 50 minutes. It served 4 people with a little bit of leftovers for lunch today!

Ingredients

Filling:

   -4 chicken breasts, cooked & cut up

   -1/4 c. chicken broth

   -1 (12oz) can cream of chicken soup

   -1 (12oz) can cream of mushroom soup

   -1 bag frozen vegetables (I only had individual bags on hand so I used about 1/3 bag of green beans, broccoli & peas)

   -1small onion

   -2 medium sized potatoes (I cooked these in the microwave & cut them up before adding them)

Crust:

   -1 stick butter, melted

   -1 1/4 c. Bisquick

   -1c. milk

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all of the "filling" ingredients together and pour into a 9"x13" greased pan. In a seperate bowl mix "crust" ingredients, pour over chicken mixture and bake for 45-60 minutes.

(Recipe modified from Big Oven).

We LOVED this, it was the perfect comfort food for a freezing cold Indy night like last night! The only recommendation I have is perhaps adding more biscuit mixture to the top, which I plan on doing next time!